Strawberry Panic! Ep4

A refreshing change from the ‘When-the-hell-is-Shizuma-gonna-kiss-Nagisa’ frame of mind lol. I prefer kissing scenes to be placed behind really, if the characters kissed each other too early, it might be mistaken as ‘Lust’ and becomes a major turn off for me. Anyways, Ep4 brought us to the second love triangle between Ootori Amane, the Prince of St Spica, Konohana Hikari, the Songstress of St Spica and Nanto Yaya, the Roommate of Hikari. A year ago, Hikari was a newly transferred student to St Spica, she was kneeling in front of a statue, praying and believed in the existence of Angels. At the place where she was praying, she heard some fan girls squealing and went to check it out. Then and there, she saw the Angel she believed in, the Angel was none other than the Prince of St Spica, Ootori Amane who was riding her white horse doing her usual training as she’s in the horse-riding club.

Back to present, Hikari’s in the St Spica choir along with her room mate, Yaya and the choir would be singing to congratulate Amane and the horse-riding club probably for winning some competition or what. The day before the performance, Hikari was really eager about doing a good job and went to the statue place to pray again. Yaya was pretty encouraging about the whole thing too. That night, Hikari was unable to sleep. The next morning, squealing fan girls were lined up in front of St Spica welcoming Amane and her gang in and that included Hikari. Surprisingly, Shizuma was there to welcome Amane too, because it’s one of Etoile’s duties and she even presented Amane with a bouquet of roses. [Side note: Amane flicking her fringe behind was just so gay LOL.] After the welcoming and stuff, it’s time for the St Spica’s choir to perform, Hikari was getting anxious with each passing time and Yaya tried to calm Hikari down by uh whispering into her ear and telling Hikari to treat everyone as Winter Melons lol. Hikari protested that Amane’s not a Winter Melon, Yaya shrugged and said, well anything you like, strawberries or what lol.

Anyways, Yaya managed to relieve some of Hikari’s stress but when on stage, Hikari got flustered when Amane’s gaze was on her and began to singing a wee too early. Amane had to stand up to quiet down the constant murmuring for the performance to continue. [Power.] However, Hikari was too embarrassed to continue singing. After the performance, Hikari went back to the statue place again and cried. Meanwhile, the Student Council President of St Spica, Shion planned to let Amane enter the Etoile battle to be the next Etoile however the vice-president and secretary don’t think Amane was up to it yet besides, Amane doesn’t have the desire to be Etoile too. [Side note: Another hair flicking scene lol] The St Spica Student Council was indeed planning something XD. That night, Hikari was still moping over her mistake, whoa, there’s even a shower scene XD. Yaya was mothering over Hikari like a hen haha, and told Hikari to sleep early as there’s choir practice tomorrow and even if Hikari overslept, the prince would kiss to wake her up =].

In the middle of the night, Hikari told Yaya that she wouldn’t be going for choir practice tomorrow as she would be quitting the choir. Yaya demanded for an answer. Hikari replied that she felt upset, she doesn’t want any attention or anything, she just wanted sing for Amane and even that she wasn’t able to do it well. Yaya tried to console Hikari that there would be many chances to come, just do it well the next time but Hikari seemed to have made up her mind. After thinking that Yaya had fallen asleep, Hikari went out alone to the statue place again which was the place where she first saw her Angel, Amane. Ironically, it was also the day she met Yaya. [I’ll comment more about this later.] Unexpectedly, Yaya was the one who encouraged Hikari to be more daring in her pursues towards Amane. Hikari walked to the place where Amane usually trained and began to sing.

The animals around were attracted by Hikari’s voice. [Snow White?! LOL] Halfway through the song, Amane came strolling along on her white horse, probably Amane’s white horse was attracted to the voice too. Amane then greeted Hikari-chan XD and commented that she had thought that she had heard the voice of an Angel. Hikari blushed. When Hikari addressed Amane as ‘Ootori-sama’, Amane corrected Hikari to call her ‘Amane’, Hikari tried again with ‘Amane-sama’ but was corrected again, no ‘Sama’ she said lol. Hikari probably didn’t feel comfortable enough so she called ‘Amane-senpai’. When Hikari asked why Amane was up so early in the morning, Amane replied that she was practicing as she couldn’t concentrate on her usual time. Hikari realized that the squealing fan girls were bothering Amane but couldn’t help but say that it’s because Amane’s an idol, that’s why. Amane divulged that she doesn’t like to be the center of attraction as it was embarrassing lol. [Kawaii~]

Hikari giggled at Amane’s shy expression but later apologized for it. Amane said that she’s glad that Hikari’s finally smiling as she looked upset earlier. Hikari then explained to Amane why she was upset. When Hikari sneezed, Amane took off her jacket and gave it to Hikari. Amane then told Hikari that when she felt like giving up when she screwed up her maiden competition but comparing the bad times, the good times weighed out more. Amane placed Hikari’s hand against her chest to feel Amane’s warmth because her chest contained a lot of good times XD. After the groping session Uh, I mean after the encouragement session, Amane offered to send Hikari back to Ichigo-Sha via her white horse. During the ride, Hikari apologized for not singing the day before, Amane shrugged it off by replying that Hikari had already sung for her just now.

Meanwhile, Yaya was waiting all along for the return of Hikari. Yaya looked out of the window, saw Amane dropping Hikari off and galloping towards the rising sun. LOL Omigod, so clichéd!!!! Anyways, before Amane left, she asked Hikari to sing for her and her horse as Star Bride seemed to like it too. As Amane galloped off, Hikari thought to herself that the Angel was not her but Amane and her chest still felt warm. Hikari returned to her room and Yaya seemed like the pissed off abandoned wife sitting on Hikari’s bed waiting for an answer lol. Yaya pulled Hikari down with Hikari’s back on the bed, climbed on top of her and demanded what happened. Hikari blushed and avoided Yaya’s gaze. [Whoa, really misleading lol] Eventually, Hikari didn’t quit the choir as she still believed that one day, an angel would smile at her. -END-

Ok, the way the anime portrayed Amane was not the same as the manga. In the manga, Amane was the Prince of St Spica and in Hikari’s eyes. However in the anime, Hikari thinks Amane is more like an Angel than a Prince while Amane will think Hikari’s like the Angel, so it’s a Prince and Angel combination. Then in my opinion, Yaya in the manga would be the Princess’s personal maid XD to steal gropes, kisses here and there while the Prince is away muahahaha. But overall, Amane did a great job in sweeping the feet of Hikari off like a prince. XD. I like Amane, ok not cos she got red eyes but she’s really gentle and nice XD.

While the anime, it gave me this feeling that Amane’s the Angel, Hikari’s the princess and Yaya as the Devil. Between the Angel and Devil, who will the princess choose? Expect angst in this love triangle as well XD.

Edit: I wanna add more stuff, i just realized that Yaya in Kanji is ‘Night’ and Hikari is ‘Light’. So this is kinda Night and Light combination. So the Angel and Devil concept is quite likely, i’m really looking forward to the angst in this love triangle. Kyaahh, i’m so bad XD.